Children Leaving Care Project:

The Children Leaving Care project was a research project looking into the experiences of adolescents primarily between the ages of 16 and 19 leaving care in England and Wales and evaluating special projects set up to make the transition less problematic. The primary task was to delineate the issues surrounding the lack of access these children have to normal privileges and 'rites of passage' with regard to housing and social relationships. Special attention was paid to minority groups such as young unmarried mothers and the mentally and physically handicapped. The project considered the effect of external facts such as previous experiences of care and the attitudes of family and social workers.

The working reports produced by the project cover the range and depth of the issues facing these young people in the care of the social authorities and rely on statistics, research and the experiences of young people who have been through or are going through the transition period. In order to collect this information the researchers built up relationships with subjects who were either in the process of leaving care or had previously been through this process as well as those working towards the process such as social workers and conducting interviews from which experiences were condensed into working reports.

1980-1991

17 files